Wikipedia:WikiProject Christianity/Mutual aid society

The mutual aid society is a clearing house, where editor skills and resources can be matched to article needs. The aim is to make the path to featured article status easier by listing the specialist resources editors may need to call on to improve their articles.

The department provides assistance in several areas:

• Administrators (for help with sysop requests or general advice)
• Copy-editing (including Manual of Style compliance and comprehensive stylistic editing for featured article candidates)
• Graphics (including maps, diagrams, and charts)
• Linguistics (including simple translation and help with sourcing in a wide variety of languages)
• Personal libraries (links to editors' lists of personal book holdings)
• Photography (including clean-up and retouching, help with fair use rationales, and new images)
• Sources (including verification of journal articles)

Administrators

The project has a number of members who are administrators. Those listed below are happy to carry out any admin-specific tasks that are requested. If informal dispute resolution is needed then the project coordinators are also available. If an admin (or coordinator) has been particularly helpful, consider awarding {{subst:The da Vinci Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

• John Carter (talk)
• Please add your name in alphabetical order above this line.

Copy-editing

For a DIY approach, see How to copy-edit

All articles can be improved by copy-editing in one form or another. An uninvolved editor looking at text with fresh eyes will see things that need fixing which the familiar editor won’t. Different articles benefit from different levels of copy-editing. Before requesting a copy-edit, decide which of the following levels is most appropriate.

1. Copy-edit lite: basic proof-reading, spellchecking, punctuation.
2. English variant conversion: for example, from American English to British English, or vice versa.
3. Naturalising: copy-edit for editors whose English is not perfect.
4. FAC prose copy-edit: flow, structure, elegance.
5. FAC technical copy-edit: MoS-compliance for dashes, hard spaces, numbers, measurement conversion.

As a thank you for good copy-editing input, nominators could consider awarding the Copy-editor's barnstar. {{subst:The Copyeditor's Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

Instructions:

• To sign up as a copy-editor, just add your name to the copy-editors list below and add the request page to your watchlist. Please provide an indication of the level of copy-editing you provide.
• To request a copy-edit, either contact one of the copy-editors direct on their talk page or list your request at the bottom of the Requests for copy-editing section below.

Copy-editors

The following editors will help with copy-edits.

• John Carter (talk)
• Please add your name in alphabetical order above this line.

Graphics

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps, Wikipedia:Graphic Lab, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Illustration

Graphics add color and interest to most articles. Maps are often the single most useful addition to a military history article. They can show the deployment of forces and the lie of the land with a clarity and brevity unmatched by a description alone. Diagrams can often serve the same function. Coats-of-arms, and similar, can add color to an otherwise monochrome page. Here are some useful sources for maps:

• Wikimedia Commons Atlas

Sometimes, no suitable graphic exists and one needs to be drawn. At other times, an existing map or diagram can be modified or tailored to suit the needs of a particular article.

The simplest solutions is to search available images in the net and link to them as long as we have no solution of sufficient quality or accuracy in commons. So, if an image is available online, but cannot be uploaded to Wikipedia, it may be appropriate to use {{externalimage}} to provide a direct link to the image and a (referenced) description of what the image depicts.

For a thank you for graphic help, consider awarding {{subst:The Graphic Designer's Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

Instructions:

• To offer help, just add your name to the graphics editors list below. Please say whether you prefer to just modify existing material or can design material from scratch.
• To request help, either contact one of the editors direct on their talk page or list your request in the requests for graphics section.

Graphics editors

• The following editors can help with modifying or creating graphics. Freehand illustrators who work on paper and can scan their illustration for uploading to Commons are also welcome. Please say whether you can create maps.

• Please add your name above this line.

Offers for teaching how to work on graphics

Please insert here offers for teaching others how to work on graphics.

Linguistics

Requests for translations can be addressed to Wikipedia:Translation

The aim is to provide foreign language support to editors researching articles. In addition to broadening the information available, it can help avoid reflecting the Anglosphere point of view that can sometimes come from reporting a subject exclusively from English-language sources. Examples include:

1. Providing translations of short sections from non-English sources into English;
2. Providing translations of photograph captions;
3. Providing the gist of non-English articles for evaluation as a possible source;
4. Helping with foreign language searches for non-English sources for later translation.

As a thank you for help with language problems, consider awarding {{subst:The Rosetta Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

Instructions:

• To provide language support, just add your name to the linguists list below. Please provide a list of the languages you speak.
• To request language support, either contact the linguist on their talk page or list your request at the bottom of the requests for language support section below.

Linguists

The following editors can provide non-English language support.

• John Carter (talk) (Some German, very little Latin, probably best to contact me directly at my talk page)
• Please add your name in alphabetical order above this line, listing the languages you can help with.

Personal libraries

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange and its list of Shared Resources.

This section is for linking to lists of personal book holdings in individual editors' user space. It is useful for checking or sourcing citations. Please mention the main areas covered for speed of reference. Consider also adding useful links to the "Resources" section of any relevant task forces.

"Special collections"

There are a large number of libraries with special collections relating to Christianity in some form. A list of some of the larger such libraries can be found here. Most every theological school and/or seminary would also be potentially useful in this area. Colleges and universities which are tied to a religious order would also likely have good collections related to that order. If you have access to any of the libraries listed, or to other substantial special collections, please include your name and a description of the collections you have access to below.

• John Carter (talk)

Photography

The Graphic Lab can retouch photographs.

Good use of photography can immeasurably improve an article. Frequently, a good suitable image already exists on Wikimedia Commons and can be used as is. Sometimes, this is not the case. This section will help you if

1. an existing Commons photograph needs cropping, cleaning up, or otherwise modifying;
2. an existing suitable Commons photograph doesn't yet exist and it needs to be sourced, and uploaded, with an appropriate copyright notice or free use rationale;
3. or existing suitable Commons photograph doesn't yet exist and needs taking specially.

As a thank you for help with photographic problems, consider awarding {{subst:The Photographer's Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

Instructions:

• If you can help with photographic images, add your name to the list in the photography editors section. Please mention what skills you can provide ("retouching", "clean up", "sourcing images", "fair use rationale" etc).
• To ask for assistance, either contact one of the editors direct on their talk page or list your request in the requests for for clean up and repair or requests for new photos sections below.

Photography editors

The following editors will help with photography. Please summarise the skills you can provide.

• Please add your name above this line.

Sources

The purpose here is to help provide high quality sources for articles. This sub-department is particularly useful for more specialist or obscure subjects. As a thank you for help with sources, consider awarding {{subst:The Citation Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

See also

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange

JSTOR

Further information: JSTOR

JSTOR is a database containing articles from academic journals on a vast range of subjects, which can be searched easily either using Google or the JSTOR search engine. For non-subscribers, the results contain a JSTOR summary page containing the reference details, together with (typically) the first page of the article. The following editors can help with JSTOR articles. You should contact them directly on their talk pages.

• John Carter (talk)